Wavefront optics and retinal image quality

With the increasing importance of optical aberrations in both vision research and clinical practice, it becomes necessary for vision scientists to have a thorough understanding of the concepts behind wavefront optics. Therefore, in this review, we provide some basic wave optics concepts useful to understand wavefront analysis, and describe the application of Zernike polynomials in the decomposition of aberrations. A general description of the human eye optical structure is given, followed by a more detailed analysis of the optical components of the eye and optical aberrations, and their secondary effect on overall optical quality. We further provide an overview of the current corneal and ocular wavefront sensing methods.